Sitting by the river: China is not a competitor, it is a predator
As Donald Trump lands in Beijing to face Xi Jinping, the air is thick with the scent of a historic showdown.
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Opinion
Latest reporting and analysis on opinion.
Part II: What? Commission says pupils must not ‘question established authority’
The document explicitly sets out three stages of pre-bunking: ‘Forewarning’, ‘microdose’ and ‘refutation’.
How Farage made it through the danger zone
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party was the runaway winner of Britain’s local elections last week, winning almost 1,500 councillor seats on city and county governing…
Part I, the classroom as psychological vaccination site: The EU’s war on ‘wrongthink’
There was a time when education meant initiation into the life of the mind.
Feeble, inert and no influence: The world misses British political wisdom
It does not seem that the world is paying much attention to the vacuum in international relations and public policy that has been created by the sudden transformation…
Philippe for president of France? Despite the polls, he is clueless and vapid
French polls suggest former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe is the elite’s best chance to defeat presumptive National Rally candidate Jordan Bardella in next…
Can European democracy be bought? Ask the rich men of Qatar
Shame, not guilt, is the currency of scandal. In 2022, on anti-corruption day no less, Belgian police uncovered €1.
Is this the end of the UK? Very possibly
Perhaps the most exquisitely stupid alliance since the formation of the United Arab Republic of Syria, Egypt and Gaza in 1959 was announced last weekend.
Poland embarks on a path of rising debt and record deficits
On May 8th, the Polish government was set to sign the SAFE defence procurement loan agreement with the European Commission in Warsaw.
Why the European Right keeps rising
The four-and-a-half-hour interview that Björn Höcke, the AfD leader in Thuringia and enfant terrible of German domestic politics, gave to the German podcaster…
Russia marks German-Ukrainian drone factories as ‘potential targets”
The Ukrainian war effort is becoming increasingly robotic, with Ukrainian drone strikes deep into Russian territory having become a regular occurrence and President…
Political Islam sees Europe as a territory to be claimed
The experiment is over, and the results are in: The British laboratory has blown up in the face of its creators.
Farage revelling in victory: What’s next for the UK’s political scene?
Although counting is continuing across the United Kingdom, the outcome of yesterday’s local elections is clear: Nigel Farage’s populist Reform Party has triumphed.
An empire that cannot speak its name
There is a parlour game popular among European commentators that consists of arguing whether the United States is doomed.
Long-range strike is Europe’s best defence
After years of neglect and dithering, defence is now firmly established at the top of the European policy agenda.
EU tries to extend Russian sanctions to Chinese companies, China punches back
The European Union adopted its 20th sanctions package against Russia in April. The announcement from Brussels was confident.
Crises can arise anywhere, but Russia today in no position to threaten Western Europe as a whole
The problems of the Western Alliance have not been caused by oversensitive hurt feelings and are not an appropriate subject for the kind of name-calling that has…
‘Systematic discrimination’: China denounces EU’s industrial proposals
Is the European Union ready for neo-mercantilism? China certainly doesn’t think so.
EU’s €90 bn ‘loan’ to Kiev is a bet on Ukraine victory and Russian humiliation. Oh, sure thing
The EU has finally agreed to lend Ukraine another €90 billion.
Absurd Greens must steal from the manifestos of other parties
Why do Green political parties still exist?
Knock ’em down, but they get up again: AUR may oust Romania’s pro-EU government
One year ago, on May 4, 2025, George Simion achieved a historic result in the first round of the presidential election, winning approximately 41 per cent of the…
Win victory in a democracy: Just give the people what they want and need
Elites worldwide are saying that incoming Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s win is a template for how to beat conservative populism worldwide.
The anti-fascists are now funding fascists
In recent weeks, I keep coming across new items that need constant double-checking, because they are so absurd that at first glance they appear made up.
Midnight Express 2026: EU indifferent to European tourists in Turkish prison
The shadow of Alan Parker’s Midnight Express has returned to Istanbul.
Weak, sinking Merz has no intention of following through on any of his promises
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is a man who knows what to say to grab headlines.
Tech has broken our entire world model, but we are in denial
Geopolitics is in flux, history has “returned”, there is war, political upheaval and technological disruption everywhere: These matters command an overwhelming…
Ignore the Trump-haters, Iran is desperate
All those whose psychological equilibrium is disturbed by the ability of the United States to take dramatic unilateral action without collegialising its decisions…
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Merz now least popular politician in Germany
Merz has become the least popular politician in Germany with a mere 28.
‘Human rights lawyers’: Leave them naked in a frozen prison cell
If Lord Richard Hermer were well-known in any other European country, it would probably be as a traitor, and he would now be manacled to the wall in an ice-cold…
Going Greek style? A brief note on Poland’s shocking budget deficit
Poland is around the EU average in terms of public debt-to-GDP.